HTH_GNTR

Many bacterial transcription regulation proteins bind DNA through a helix-turn-helix (HTH) motif, which can be classified into subfamilies on the basis of sequence similarities. The HTH GntR family has many members distributed among diverse bacterial groups that regulate various biological processes. It was named GntR after the Bacillus subtilis repressor of the gluconate operon [(PUBMED:2060763)]. Family members include GntR, HutC, KorA, NtaR, FadR, ExuR, FarR, DgoR and PhnF. The crystal structure of the FadR protein has been determined [(PUBMED:11013219)]. In general, these proteins contain a DNA-binding HTH domain at the N terminus, and an effector-binding or oligomerisation domain at the C terminus (IPR011711). The DNA-binding domain is well conserved in structure for the whole of the GntR family, consisting of a 3-helical bundle core with a small beta-sheet (wing); the GntR winged helix structure is similar to that found in several other transcriptional regulator families. The regions outside the DNA-binding domain are more variable and are consequently used to define GntR subfamilies [(PUBMED:11756427)]. This entry represents the N-terminal DNA-binding domain of the GntR family.

A new family of bacterial regulatory proteins has been identified by sequence similarity. The family contains the repressor of the Bacillus subtilis gluconate operon (GntR), the regulators for histidine utilization in Pseudomonas putida (HutCPp) and Klebsiella aerogenes (HutCKa), the repressor (FadR) of fatty acid degradation in Escherichia coli, a regulator involved in the conjugal transfer of the broad host range plasmid pIJ101 (KorA), and three proteins of unidentified function in E. coli (GenA, P30 and PhnF). The proteins share amino acid sequence similarities in a 69-residue N-terminal region. A helix-turn-helix motif is predicted in the most highly-conserved segment of each protein suggesting that they are members of a new family of helix-turn-helix DNA-binding proteins.

Overexpression and site-directed mutagenesis of the succinyl-CoA synthetase of Escherichia coli and nucleotide sequence of a gene (g30) that is adjacent to the suc operon.

Biochem J. 1989; 260: 737-47

Display abstract

The succinyl-CoA synthetase of Escherichia coli is encoded by two genes, sucC (beta subunit) and sucD (alpha subunit), which are distal genes in the sucABCD operon. They are expressed from the suc promoter, which also expresses the dehydrogenase and dihydrolipoyl succinyl-transferase subunits of the 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex. Strategies have now been devised for the site-directed mutagenesis and independent expression of the succinyl-CoA synthetase (alpha 2 beta 2 tetramer) and the individual subunits. These involve (1) subcloning a promoterless sucCD fragment downstream of the lac promoter in M13mp10, and (2) precise splicing of the suc coding regions with the efficient atpE ribosome-binding site and expression from the thermoinducible lambda promoters in the pJLA503 vector. Succinyl-CoA synthetase specific activities were amplified 40-60-fold within 5 h of thermoinduction of the lambda promoters, and the alpha and beta subunits accounted for almost 30% of the protein in supernatant fractions of the cell-free extracts. Site-directed mutagenesis of potential CoA binding-site residues indicated that Trp-43 beta and His-50 beta are essential residues in the beta-subunit, whereas Cys-47 beta could be replaced by serine without inactivating the enzyme. No activity was detected after the histidine residue at the phosphorylation site of the alpha-subunit was replaced by aspartate (His-246 alpha----Asp), but this alteration seemed to have a deleterious effect on the accumulation of the enzyme in cell-free supernatant extracts. The nucleotide sequence of an unidentified gene (g30) that is adjacent to the sucABCD operon was defined by extending the sequence of the citric acid cycle gene cluster by 818 bp to 13379 bp: gltA-sdhCDAB-sucABCD-g30. This gene converges on the suc operon and encodes a product (P30) that contains 230 amino acids (Mr 27,251). Highly significant similarities were detected between the N-terminal region of P30 and those of GENA [the product of another unidentified gene (geneA) located upstream of the aceEF-lpd operon], and GNTR (a putative transcriptional repressor of the gluconate operon of Bacillus subtilis). Possible roles for GENA and P30 as transcriptional regulators of the adjacent operons encoding the pyruvate and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes are discussed.

This information is based on mapping of SMART genomic protein database to KEGG orthologous groups. Percentage points are related to the number of proteins with HTH_GNTR domain which could be assigned to a KEGG orthologous group, and not all proteins containing HTH_GNTR domain. Please note that proteins can be included in multiple pathways, ie. the numbers above will not always add up to 100%.